Samus Aran vs Master Chief
by Eb0ny Dragon
Summary: Samus Aran is commissioned by the Glactic Federation to explore a new corner of the galaxy. Little does she know another suited warrior is headed to the same planet! Expect a lot of violence and a little coarse language. Done as a collaboration with Wabitgirl on DeviantArt. My first submission to fanfiction!
1. Chapter 1

Part 1

Samus Aran's gunship exploded out of its warp-drive with barely a whisper of sound. Seated comfortably in the cockpit, Samus smoothly activated the communications channel with the Galactic Federation's Admiral Rockford on the control panel extending from the roof of her ship.

"Admiral. I have arrived in the uncharted space without resistance."

"Well done." Replied Rockford. "Continue investigations as you deem fit. As you are charting further territory for the Federation, be sure to conquer all opposition with an initial peaceful attempt, and then by whatever means possible." He paused, the silence giving meaning to his unspoken words. "Good luck, Aran."

Samus closed the communication channel and slowed her ship to a stop, carefully taking in her surroundings with the eyes of a hunter. All her years of experience as a bounty hunter had honed her solo investigation skills, and so, when Samus had been offered a chance to become a forerunner to a newly discovered corner of the galaxy, she had declined the recommendation of leading a Federation squadron, and set out by herself-something she was used to, and also preferred.

As she gazed across the millions of stars, a large, gray planet caught her eyes. Samus narrowed her eyes and set off towards it, commanding her ship to make a quick scan of it as she went.

"_Planet unknown in the scope of the Galactic Federation database. 72% is covered in snow, the other 28% consisting of fragile caverns and ice flows. Exploration of this side is not recommended. Snow side of planet reveals signs of an advanced civilization. Caution suggested for contact."_

Samus was surprised to find advanced life so far out from the Federation, but headed towards it anyway, hoping that the place was long since uninhabited. Out of precaution, she activated her ship's concealment shield-the Chozo technology would prevent her from being discovered by any unfriendly locals. She headed towards what looked like a large, metal tower, and landed her ship a fair distance away, in case of resistance. She took a final glance from the cockpit, and exited through the lower door of her ship. As soon as she was fully lowered out of her gunship, Samus activated her scanner. It revealed nothing of immediate interest, informing her that the ashen-coloured snow had corrosive properties that would easily eat through any human, though it barely even registered on her hazard warning meter.

'So this place isn't going to be able to be inhabited by any human settlers then.' She mused. But even though the planet wouldn't be a stable homeland for the human race, Samus still had to go on, in case there was anything valuable to be mined or, in this case, taken. Rising up in the distance, the metal tower was bigger than she expected-certainly not built by any humans. It was too far away for her to scan and so, senses on alert for resistance, she began to jog towards the behemoth structure.

Soon, Samus could just visualize the base of the tower-and it wasn't uninhabited after all. At first, her mind immediately linked the creatures there to Space Pirates. There were squat, standing on two legs, and their bodies had a mottled, reptilian appearance. Samus narrowed her eyes, and her visor obliged, zooming in on the creatures. No, not Space Pirates. These were thicker in the limbs and face, and didn't have their weapons melded to their arms, as the pirates did. They were also brighter coloured, and lacked the pirates' thinner, more defined features, instead looking blocky, with dog-like faces. She tried to scan them, but even though she was zoomed in, her scanners couldn't read them just yet. Samus noted that there were twelve of these smaller ones standing around the base of the tower. However, Samus was sure there would be more than these insignificant-looking creatures guarding the tower. Flicking to her thermal visor, she could make out half a dozen other creatures standing on the ramparts, and another again higher up on a solitary ledge. Again, she magnified her image of the beings on the battlements. Her heart thudded painfully as she saw the tall, bird-like creatures and mistook them for Chozo. She gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut for a second, then, working her face free of emotion, opened her eyes and looked again. They _were_ bird like, but were definitely not the beings of her foster race. Their muscular forearms and vulture-like heads were of an entirely different species, she was sure. Relaxing, she looked up to higher, to the last living thing on the tower. It too was a bird-like alien, but judging from its lengthened weapon and position, it was acting as a sniper.

Samus zoomed out again, and came to a decision quickly. Judging from the formations of the hostiles, they were not going to peacefully accept Samus, or the Galactic Federation for that matter. They were an obstacle, and so had to be removed. Besides, their uncanny similarities to Space Pirates gave Samus a very bad feeling-and she had learned to trust her instincts.

Samus coolly shifted into attack mode, calculating her best chances of taking the enemies. Since she couldn't scan them, she had no idea really of what they could do, and she hated taking on foreign opponents without knowing what she was up against. So first, she had to get close enough to scan them. And to do that…she had to take down the sniper. Samus bit her lip as she considered how to do it. None of her weapons were particularly suited for sniping-in fact, they were quite useless, as they all fired huge, brightly-coloured shots that moved…well, not slow, but not as quick as the federations sniping gu- _oh. _Of course. Samus suppressed a smile and moved quickly back to her ship, entering it and exiting just as fast-except now, she was carrying a Galactic Federation sniping rifle, left behind by her comrade Anthony Higgs when he had last travelled in her ship. She ran back to her scouting spot and prepared to fire it,

"Damn." She muttered. While Samus was perfectly capable of firing the rifle, having trained in the Federation's Army for many years, to accurately aim and fire it required her to raise to eye level, and use both hands-something she couldn't exactly do with an outward-jutting helmet and an arm cannon. Samus was acutely uncomfortable with removing her suit, but what had to be done had to be done. Samus concentrated, and her helmet, arm cannon and left hand cover melted away, revealing her blue Zero Suit. This suit too provided protection from the acidic snow, but not for as long as her Varia Suit would. The cold unexpectedly hit Samus in the face, and she wrinkled her nose, disliking being exposed to the elements so suddenly. Raising the rifle to eye level, she centered the locator on the small blob she knew to be the sniper. She drew in a deep breath, held it…and fired abruptly. The rifle made a small cough, but no greater noise, which Samus was grateful for. To her satisfaction, she saw the creature jerk and collapse into a heap on the platform-if it had fallen sideways, the enemies would have been alerted. She tossed the rifle aside and the remaining parts of her suit materialized again, cutting off the chill on her face. Now, it was time to do what she did best.

She sprinted towards the tower, staying low until she was about five hundred meters away. She was currently in the shadow of a small mound of ice, but all potential cover halted as she got closer to the tower. But now, she was close enough. She raised her fingers to her temple, and began to scan the smaller beings first.

"_Creature is of unknown origin to any Federation or Chozo database. It appears to be equipped with a plasma gun, but lacks the range and precision of your own. Creature does not appear to be particularly physically advanced, but numbers indicate that it is likely to be used as the grunt force of its own military. Caution recommended, but not vital." _

Samus smirked, likening them to the lightly-armed Space pirates who often faced the misfortune of going up against her. She then moved her scanner up to the bird-like creatures, her pace quickening reflexively.

"_Creature is of unknown origin to any Federation or Chozo database. These creatures are armed with reflecting shields similar to that carried by Space Pirates. They are also equipped with long-range plasma guns. Caution recommended." _

A sense of ease flowed through Samus as the scanning was complete. She switched her arm cannon to her most potent beam, the nova beam. She wasn't going to take any chances. An idea forming in her mind, she slipped into morph ball mode and rolled around the ice flow, away from the sight of the grunts. She travelled around until she was positioned directly in the line with the grunts, which seemed to be communicating with each other in a series of short squeaks and barks. Samus stood up, adrenaline buzzing through her veins. She began to charge her cannon, and an emerald ball of glowing plasma formed at its tip, green sparks spitting off it like a fire. Before any of the grunts could react, she released the shot, which blasted towards the first grunt and hit it square in the side of its chest, killing it instantly. But that wasn't the end of it. Due to its unique properties, the nova beam slammed through three more of the grunts before finally fizzing out, eating away at their armor and skin. Frenzied howls burst from the pack and Samus sprinted out, another charged shot already prepared. She rolled as a flurry of the grunts own plasma shots whizzed by her, and released her shot into the head of the closest grunt, which opened its mouth to scream, only to have its entire head melt. The bird-like creatures were screeching, and began to fire down on her as well. Samus, realizing she had to finish the grunts before she could take down the birds creatures-she decided to call them raptors- switched to her plasma beam, the one she had collected on Tallon IV. This one shot streams of molten lava instead of traditional plasma, something Samus was about to abuse. She winced as several of the raptor's shots struck her, but her shield held up well. Two grunts charged her, the others hanging back, weapons raised to fire if their comrades failed. Samus stepped in to meet them, ducking under the first one's outstretched blade and firing point blank into its stomach. The grunt squealed as it erupted into flame. Samus shoved the burning body at the other grunts, blocking their fire for a few moments, which was all she needed to sidestep the next grunt and slam her arm cannon into its skull with all her might, smashing its head in. She whirled around, her cannon fully charged, and combined the fully powered molten shot with her missile stock. Flames forcefully spewed from her arm cannon, and she swept the flamethrower across the line of grunts, setting the lot on fire and dazzling the raptors, who were still firing on her. The grunts howled, running around in circles, and Samus used their panic to aim her seeker missiles onto the pack. The projectiles burst from her arm in a swirling array, and each one found its target.

With no more grunts to contend with, Samus moved onto the raptors, which had recovered from their temporary blindness and were preparing to shoot. She switched to her ice beam-her flamethrower had terrible range-and fired small shots of sub-zero ice at them, and watched in satisfaction as several of her shots froze over the limbs of four of them. They screeched in rage, and the two who had avoided her attack leapt down, shields at the ready. Samus threw out her grapple beam, and latched onto the nearest ones shield. With a vicious yank, Samus ripped it off, smashing it to the ground. The raptor looked momentarily stunned, and Samus quickly did the same to the other, but this time, whipped the shield across, smashing the shield into the others' beaked face. It squawked, and Samus, switching back to her nova beam, fired several shots into its torso. The creature wailed as its body burned away, and Samus turned back to the other, only to see it firing its own gun at her. Activating her boosters, Samus flipped backwards, and her shields rippled as the shot glanced by. She twisted in midair, and fired again, taking out the raptors legs. It screamed, so Samus sent her next shot right into its mouth, choking it-silencing it. The remaining four on the battlement were still trying to free their limbs from the blocks of ice. Samus, seeing an opportunity, changed back to ice beam and, combining it with her missiles, fired her ice spreader. Immediately, all were frozen sold in a hunk of glistening ice, and Samus automatically fired a devastating super missile, shattering the ice and the remains of the creatures inside.

Samus stood among the bodies for a few seconds, savoring the silence, when the thick bolted doors at the towers base groaned, and suddenly swung open. Two huge, reptilian creatures in armor sprinted out towards Samus, so fast she had no time to even contemplate scanning them. Her warning sensors screamed as the first one raised its gun and fired a bolt of plasma at her-much, much faster than that of the grunt. Samus barely had time to sidestep it before the creature fired again, this time aiming where she was about to move to. The shot slammed into her, and to her shock, she immediately lost three quarters of one of her energy tanks. Samus snarled and went back on the offensive, dodging the strike of the second reptile and firing a semi-charged shot at the nearest one. A glowing silver blue skin seemed to shimmer into existence as her shot hit the reptile, and then it faded away- her shot hadn't even harmed it. Nevertheless, the creature looked surprised, and Samus guessed that she had just taken a good chunk out of its own shield. The elites-for surely they were the backbone force of whatever this army was – separated, standing on both her sides and making it impossible to fire at both at once. Both simultaneously raised their weapons and Samus leapt high into the air, and then space jumped left towards the elite whose shield she had weakened before, activating her Screw Attack. Deadly arcs of electric energy spun around her as she spiraled towards the elite, and it snarled as it raised a mammoth hand to bat her away. And then she hit its shield. The creature shrieked in rage as the deadly energy of the Screw Attack seared through the damaged energy screen and then, much to its surprise, sliced through its hand. The elite behind Samus roared and started towards her, but it was too late. Samus uncoiled in mid air and bought her charging power beam down into the gaping mouth of the screaming elite-and fired. It convulsed and made a horrible gargling sound before keeling over backwards, dead. Samus spun around to the last elite and, not giving it a chance to react, quickly switched into morph ball mode and boosted right into its shield. It held, but the elite was thrown backwards by the kinetic force. Seeing an opportunity, Samus unrolled and sent out her grapple beam towards the elite, activating the grapple voltage feature. She latched onto the shield, and greedily began to absorb the energy, watching in satisfaction as her shields recharged. The elite, quickly realizing what she was doing, stumbled up and attempted to grab onto her grapple beam, presumably with the intentions of yanking her around with it. But Samus didn't give it the chance. She yanked her arm cannon backwards, retracting the beam, and activated her boosters, propelling herself towards the creature. She landed on top of the damaged shield and prepared to unleash a charged nova blast. But the elite, sensing that its shields might not hold up, swatted her off with surprising speed. Samus managed to avoid the worst of the damage, but her shot skated off its shield as she flew sideways, and the beam cut a burning line in the ashy snow. The elite, not wasting its chance, unsheathed a deadly glowing energy blade and rushed at Samus, who was still airborne. Samus acted on instinct, switching to her wave beam. A shot of purple electricity arced towards the elite as her feet touched the ground, and the creature snarled, raising the blade to block the shot, barely two meters away from her. And then, as Samus suspected, the wave beam fizzled along the length of the blade, which sparked violently-and died. The elite froze, and made a noise of utter disbelief as its deadly weapon suddenly turned into no more than a metal sword. Samus flicked back to her nova beam and sent a barrage of shots at the elite, which bellowed in fury as its damaged shields winked out. It aimed its gun at her and charged, firing off a volley of plasma shots in a last ditch attempt to take her down. But Samus, having activated her plasma beam again, boosted upwards, charging a deadly molten shot. Several shots grazed her shield, dipping it down, and she lost an energy tank as she fired the scorching shot at the elite's firearm. It screeched as the gun fizzled and melted into its skin-and was silenced as Samus blasted it a second time in chest. The flames exploded over the elite's body, and it roared a death cry as its armour and flesh seared. Finally, it dropped into the snow, its charred face fixed in a ghastly snarl.

Adrenaline rushed through Samus' body as she waited. But no more enemies attacked her-at least not yet. Samus exhaled and turned towards the door of the goliath tower. Clearly, there would be more of these enemies inside. But what on earth were they? Samus walked over to the elite who she had shot in the mouth-its body was less damaged, and so would be easier to examine. As she activated her scanner, she noticed that she had lost one and a half energy tanks. She still had eight full ones left, but she hoped she would get a chance to recharge them.

"_Creature is of unknown origin to any Federation or Chozo database. It has suffered severe head and throat trauma, as well as damage to its left hand. Although unrelated to any known Space Pirate forces, it does share slight physical resemblance to the Elite Pirates of the great Phazon Crisis. Enemy possesses a plasma rifle, energy shield generator and an energy sword. Caution highly recommended."_

Curious. Now that she looked, it was true there was a resemblance to the elite pirates of the Great Phazon Crisis. But she was certain they had all been eliminated-by her personally. Any resemblances had to be coincidence. Whatever these things were, Samus hoped there were more answers in the tower. She approached the door and scanned it, trying to hack into whatever was keeping it whatever they were, they were either internal, or invisible to all her visors. Samus tried again, this time examining what the door was primarily made of. Finding that it was laced with denzium, Samus slipped into morph ball mode and rolled up to the door, making sure she was directly in its centre. She quickly sprang up with the morph ball jump, and released a power bomb. The almost nuclear power of the blast spread slowly in a spherical radius, ad Samus quickly rolled backwards, not wanting to be crushed by the doors. There was a thunderous crash as the doors were blasted clean off, cracks spider webbing across them as they smashed into the ground. The snow around the entrance was vaporized, as were the bodies of two grunts that had fallen in front of the door. Samus uncurled and looked at the destruction she had wrought with a cool satisfaction. The corridor ahead was, for the moment, obscured with particles of metal and dust. Samus activated her thermal visor, and winced as the heat marks left by her bomb seared across the screen. She quickly switched to her X-ray visor. Although not as good for identifying enemies, it allowed her to see through everything-walls and all. And to her surprise, she saw the outlines of two of the raptor creatures hiding just on the edges of the entrance. Surprised by their bravery-or stupidity-, Samus changed to her nova beam and stalked forward, her combat visor alerting her to the exact position of the two creatures. Three paces from the doorway, she heard the one on her left give a hushed, nervous chitter.

Taking that as her cue, she boosted forwards, rolling and came up, firing a blast of burning lava at the raptor that had made the noise. It screeched and stumbled left, and her beam burned a smoldering line into the wall. She heard the raptor behind her aim its plasma gun, and in close quarters, Samus had no time to charge up any effective shots. She lunged at the stumbling raptor, grabbing its muscled left forearm with her right hand, and twisted it around so that it was between her and the other raptor. The firing raptor quickly jerked its gun, and the shot it was about to fire into Samus instead hit the wall. Wasting no time-who knew if they would eventually shoot through each other- Samus bought her arm cannon down hard onto the raptors elbow. It wailed as it crunched and snapped, and Samus shoved it forward into the other raptor-which abruptly shoved it back. The raptor in the middle yowled as it was pushed back and forth, and Samus, wishing to end the game, brutally shoved her arm cannon lengthways under its beak, grabbed the right side of its head with her left hand and snapped its neck. It crumpled, and not giving the other one the chance to retaliate, she rushed towards it and, ducking under its clawed swipe at her helmet, rammed her bulky shoulder into its gun arm, which crackled as it was crushed under it. It screamed and slashed at her again with its good hand, dropping its gun. Samus merely blocked it with her cannon, and, twisting it so its arm was pinned in between her arm and torso, she brought her elbow down, snapping its other arm. It opened its beak to scream again, and Samus grabbed its throat, her fingers digging into the scaly flesh as she rose. With a yell she slammed its head into the wall, again, and again, and when she saw blood spatter out the back of its head, she ground it into the wall and dragged it sideways, leaving a bloody streak upon the tarnished surface as its corpse fell.

Samus was now breathing heavily, and a part of her wondered why she was getting so worked up. The answer came clear to her-these creatures' resemblance to the Chozo was messing with her head, causing her to lash out in anger. At what, she wasn't sure. She straightened up shakily, determined to return things to normal. She checked her energy tanks-only a fraction of them lost during that particular tussle. Her hazard warning meter was still reacting to the acidic snow outside, and her missile count was 165 out of 200. What concerned her most was her enemy radar. A cluster of orange dots were showing up, and seemed to be located beyond the next doorway, only three meters away from her. Samus wished she could find some sort of database to hack into so she could find out why so many alien species were communing together. She was confident she could manage her foes on the other side of the door, but it wouldn't hurt to be careful. She looked around hopefully for something she could drain to restore her energy, but these raptors weren't carrying energy shields like the last ones, and the little room was bare. Well, at least she could restore her missiles. As Samus activated her Accel Charge, her thought flickered involuntarily to the Baby. Her last mission on the Bottle Ship had dredged up memories she had wanted to forget, and now she was keen to further shove them into the back of her mind. Now wasn't the time for morbid reminiscences. There was a soft 'ching' as her arm cannon was fully restocked and, switching to her nova beam and breathing in deeply, she approached the softly lit door. It slid open with a hiss, and Samus entered the room. It was far bigger than the previous, the grey metal walls stretching hundreds of meters into the air. There were a few block-like structures scattered around, each one about seven feet high. Another doorway was situated at the far end of the room. And standing between her and the doorway was a mixture of about fifty grunts, raptors and elites, all roaring-wanting her blood.

"Damn."

Samus vaulted over the square block and dropped down onto the last grunt who was feverishly trying to pull a grenade from its belt. It looked up and snarled, in a last ditch attempt to make a stand, but Samus was too damn irritated to care. As it began to release the pin, Samus curled her hand into a fist and backhanded the grunt with all her strength. The grunt made no sound as its neck snapped, and it crumpled to the ground, its twisted head glaring up at her blankly in death. Samus quickly stepped out from behind the block, checking with her X-ray visor for any remaining enemies. But to her relief, there were none. Samus shakily leant against the nearest wall, unsteadily observing the destruction she had wrought. She had used the nova beam the most, vaporizing the limbs and heads of the smaller grunts and burning the bodies of the raptors and elites. She had also found that boost-balling into the grunts and raptors an effective way to crush their torsos and appendages. The elites had been more trouble to deal with, their shields proving irksome to dismantle. Her ice spreader had been useful in stopping their movements, and she had managed to trap their arms and legs in ice before shattering them with missiles many times. The bloody splinters of ice around the room were evidence to that. Her wave beam had also helped paralyze the movements of the raptors and grunts, and she had completely abused her missile stock, firing off so many super missiles in the battle she had only 65 left. She had sustained some serious damage, and had only five of her ten energy tanks left. She had had absolutely no time at all to absorb the shields of the elites, and now there was nothing left at all for her to scavenge. She pushed off from the wall, rolling her shoulders to try and ease the stiffness. She hoped she had taken out the bulk of the enemy forces in this massacre, because she was really getting tired of these guys.

Samus activated her X-ray visor again, checking beyond the next door, but nothing moved. She walked up to it, but to her surprise, it didn't open. She tapped it with her hand. Still nothing. She quickly scanned the door. It had been jammed in position - whether from the fighting or on purpose, she wasn't sure. However, it seemed to be pretty flimsy. Samus rocked back, and then launched a powerful push kick at the door. The door screeched and bent inwards, leaving a gap between itself and the doorframe. Samus grasped it firmly and, with a jerk, ripped the door out of its opening. She whirled and tossed it far, the door landing on one of the far right walls. There was a ramp leading upwards and, sensing no enemies, Samus walked cautiously up. The ramp continued for a while, and when she reached the top, Samus calculated she had climbed about forty stories. Through the next doorway there was a single hanging catwalk across the length of the room which joined onto a walkway that lined the outer wall. Several other catwalks hung above her, all leading to other, higher walkways, and there was a single door across the room. About one hundred meters below her was floor. No creatures in sight. Samus began to walk across the catwalk when suddenly, a muted thump sounded from behind her. She whirled around, arm cannon poised. The sound seemed to have come from below her, in the previous room. Surely she hadn't missed an enemy? Or was one of them alive, and moving about?

'No, that's impossible.' Samus thought to herself. 'I finished the job back there. 'Which means…there is something new here.' She activated her X-ray visor, but the structure of the metal walls prevented her from getting a clear picture of what was in there. But there was movement. Whoever this new enemy was, they were certainly going to come this way. Samus looked around again, and spied one of the catwalks above her had a nice looking metal handhold on it she could use. She shot out her grapple beam, attaching it firmly to the handrail. Samus swung upwards and outwards, landing on a higher walkway. She walked around until she was above and to the left of the doorway she had been heading towards. There was a metal column supporting the pathway above her, so she hid behind it, still keeping an eye on the creature through the column with her thermal visor. She waited, and listened. The footsteps were quiet, almost too soft for her to make out. Immediately, she saw the figure. Samus frowned as she studied it through the cylinder of metal. It wasn't one of the creatures she had fought before. This one looked about her size, and was bipedal too. The outline was bulky-perhaps some sort of armor. As the figure stopped at the doorway, it peeked around- a decidedly human action. Samus' mind was racing. Was this a human? Or just another, more cautious enemy? Probably the latter, as the only humans here would be from the Federation, and they knew she was here, and so also knew not to interfere. Samus' whirling thoughts froze as the figure, apparently having decided it was clear, slipped though the doorway, hugging the wall. The figure looked around, checking out the walls, floor and roof. Samus saw them preparing the cross the catwalk, so she switched back to her combat visor, curious but cautious as the prepped her nova beam and peered around the column. Suddenly, the figure began to sprint across the catwalk, the heavy footfalls resounding throughout the structure. For a second, the speed of the creature shocked her-it was just as quick as she was, maybe faster than her while she was in her Varia Suit. But then she took in its appearance. An olive-green suit. Bulky chest plating. And as it ran, a flash of yellow visor. _Weavel! _


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2

A surge of heat shot through Samus at the sight of her old space-pirate enemy. What was he doing here?! But there was no time for Samus to think things through. Weavel was her enemy, and if he was conspiring with these new opponents, then he had to be stopped. Samus quickly charged a full nova blast, and as Weavel reached the centre of the catwalk, she released it. To her surprise, Weavel seemed to sense her shot, and he threw himself backwards, skidding in reverse and hitting the far wall. As the middle of the skywalk melted and crumpled, Samus leapt down in front of the doorway, switching back to her power beam. Weavel pulled himself upwards-he hadn't seen her yet. Remembering his 'Halfturret' ability, Samus snapped off two shots-one to his face, and one to his legs in case he decided to split. Before he could fire at her, she quickly stepped through the doorway and ran, looking for her next place to ambush him. The next room was similar to the one she had just exited, but instead of catwalks going up, there were ramps leading down. Staying out of the line of sight through the doorway, she peered down at the floor. It wasn't that far. She pulled herself over the railing and fell down, the ground rushing up towards her. Just before she hit the floor, she activated her boosters, and she hit the ground with no more speed than had she come off a step. She was at the edge of a large circular area. The only doorway was one across the room, so she began to run. She could hear a rapid thumping as Weavel crashed down the ramps to reach her, but she was determined to reach the doorway and get through so she could defend it from the other side. However, as she reached the room's centre, the crashing stopped, and she heard a few quick clicks-like a weapon being readied. Before she could turn, six shots thudded into her shielding. They didn't do much - but with only five energy tanks left, Samus wasn't going to take them lightly. She turned slowly around, and blinked at the figure before her. It had a gun raised and aimed at her head, but that wasn't what fazed her. The figure, who she had taken for Weavel…was not. Yes, the armor was a dark green, and yes, the visor was a golden yellow. But the helmet lacked Weavel's red plume, and his signature energy blade was nowhere in sight. Instead, the creature had several weapons on it, including a knife, grenades and a rifle of some sort. Its voice startled her.

"Who are you?"

Samus cocked her head. That definitely wasn't Weavel's voice, but the armor was too similar for her to dismiss. A space pirate then. Apprehension gnawed at her. If the space pirates were outfitting their forces with armor like Weavel's then the Galactic Federation was in trouble. The pirate shouted again.

"Who are you and why did you attack me? I am Master Chief. Spartan-117 of the UNSC Forces. Identify yourself." The figure fingered its gun as it waited for her answer.

'So,' thought Samus 'the pirates have a new battle squad, the UNSC.' This was something she would need to investigate later. She smirked. The poor thing didn't even know who she was. Well, she was about to enlighten it.

"I'm a bounty hunter." She replied, her voice resonating throughout the chamber. "I kill things for a living." Before she even finished, Samus began charging her power beam. Her quickest beam to charge, Samus slapped her arm cannon into her other hand after a mere second and prepared to fire a super missile. Just as she released it, the pirate leaped sideways, and her super missile exploded right where it had been standing.

'The thing's quick,' Samus grumbled. This new armor was definitely going to be a problem. The pirate shot at her again, and the three shots pinged off her shields. For the first time Samus really _looked _at the weapon. It looked at bit…primitive. Not the usual weapon of choice for a space pirate, but then again, she wasn't complaining. Samus activated her boosters and she was propelled forwards, her feet thudding into the ground as she prepared to ram the pirate with her shoulder. The pirate readied itself to intercept, but at the last second, it turned, and Samus almost stumbled as she shot past it. Their shields flared as they touched.

'Since when do pirates have whole body energy shields?' she wondered angrily. Their alliance with these new enemies was looking to be worse and worse for the Galactic Federation. She skidded to a halt, not liking the pirate's above-average mobility. She changed to her ice beam and began charging, aiming to stop its movements altogether. For some reason, the pirate was unmoving, and Samus was able to charge a full shot before she released it. Again, the pirate dodged, and Samus began to feel irritated at its agility. In midair, the pirate took out another gun and aimed it at her. As her ice beam hit the ground, ice flowed out in a circle, and she saw the pirate falter and instead grab a grenade from its belt - the same type that the other enemies had used. Samus hated those things-they took out almost a whole energy tank, and she was down to four and a half now. She cocked her arm cannon back and made a throwing motion, her grapple beam sparking as it launched out towards the pirate, and it latched onto the pirate's leg, shield and all. Just as she jerked her arm back to send the pirate skyward, it pulled the pin on its grenade. Samus snarled and hurled the pirate into the air, which flailed – and threw the grenade. She quickly released the grapple beam as the pirate shot upwards, and she prepared to jump backwards. But as the pirate managed to grab hold of one of the catwalks, the grenade hit her right foot. The explosion made her teeth shudder, but she managed to stay still as the flames around her swirled and eddied. She hissed as her shields dropped - only three left now.

'The pirate has a good throw.' She mused. She heard the pirate drop back down, and the smoke cleared. The pirate stood up, and flinched when it saw her standing there, apparently unharmed. Her shields buzzed, and faded as the last of the energy from the grenade disappeared. Samus snarled – no single pirate had ever taken out so many of her shields before – and she shot a single missile at it. The pirate jumped sideways, but the homing properties of her missile kicked in, and it landed closer than the pirate expected. It was lifted off its feet and thrown down, and Samus felt a surge of triumph as she saw its shields flicker - and go out. Wasting no time, the pirate leaped up and sprinted towards the nearest doorway, its feet almost blurring as it escaped.

'Oh no you don't!' snarled Samus inwardly. She sprinted after it, rage giving her energy. She wasn't called The Hunter for nothing!

The pirate was running up the ramps towards the top, and its speed meant Samus couldn't get a shot in - and it was gaining distance. It dashed through a doorway, and Samus saw its shields shimmer back to life. She put on a burst of speed as she hurled through the doorway – but the pirate wasn't ahead of her. 'Where-'

Samus shuddered as she was hit point blank in her back. The dammed thing was hiding behind the doorway! She spun, but the pirate mirrored her movement, still behind her. There was a horrible crack as the pirate viciously stuck the back of neck with the gun, and her shields drooped - half a tank left. Fear rushed through Samus as warning signals began ringing in her helmet – this couldn't be happening! But then the pirate ferociously kicked her in the back, sending her crashing into a wall. Her suit screeched in warning…and went silent. Her shields were…no. She _couldn't _be down to hard armor. That couldn't be possible. Samus' thoughts spiraled into a tiny, hard point of action. Fury rushed through her veins, and she cradled her arm cannon in front of her, discreetly charging her power beam. She heard the pirate step up to her, meaning to shoot her right in the back of her head, and she angled the arm cannon under her left arm, releasing the shot right into the pirates' face. Her head snapped forward as the pirate released the trigger and the shot hit the side of her helmet, pain lancing through her face and neck. She fell forwards into the ground, shuddering. For a second, Samus felt nothing but despair. Her suit was completely drained-by all accounts, she should be dead. But then, she heard a sound. Scrabbling, as the pirate sat up. She pulled herself to her knees, and for a second she didn't realize why she couldn't see. But then she realized. The shot had blackened her visor, and she could faintly make out a crack that traveled from the right of her visor down to the mouthpiece. On her knees, she hesitantly reached up with her left hand to pull it off. She had never had remove her suit manually before. _Never. _Her helmet clattered to the floor and she stood up, raising her arm cannon to the downed space pirate.

Human.

The word flashed into her mind like a neon sign. The figure in armor was standing up, its own visor on the floor, melted from her power beam blast. It raised its own gun to her head, waiting. Not it. Him. A human. Samus dropped her arm cannon to her side, staring at the man. His face was hard and angular, the brown hair cut short - military short. His hazel eyes started deeply into hers, and Samus couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity in his tired, bemused gaze. Finally, he too lowered his weapon. Samus swallowed, her throat dry as she prepared to speak.

"I'm Samus. Samus Aran." Her words seemed to calm the man down, and she relaxed slightly. He sighed and slumped against the wall, sliding down into a seated position. The silence grew, and Samus, surprisingly not liking the silence, gave a wry smile.

"I've never come that close to dying, nor have I had someone survive a point blank charge blast from my arm cannon." The revelation lightened her, and the man ran a hand over his face.

"Same here, with the dying. Though I thought I was done for when you took that plasma 'nade like it was nothing." He grinned, looking a bit embarrassed. Samus' smile grew at the man's rough voice and she walked closer, before sitting down in front of him, exhausted.

"It wasn't nothing, trust me. That thing took a nasty chunk out of my shielding, you know." Samus wasn't sure why she was giving this man such detail about her shields, but she found she liked the conversation. "You said your name was…Master Chief?"

The man grimaced.

"That's my rank actually." Samus waited for him to go on. The Master Chief held out his right hand and Samus hesitated, before grasping it firmly.

"But you can call me John"


	3. Chapter 3

Samus smiled slightly as she shook the man's hand. His grip was strong, and she could feel his unnatural power through their connecting suits. She looked at his eyes again, and as they met, his gaze seemed to harden, his smile tightening. Wait. His grip was just a little too strong…

With a speed she hadn't predicted, the Master Chief pulled Samus off her feet-all 100 kilos plus of her-and swung her over his shoulder, before slamming her into the metal floor. Samus gasped, caught completely unawares as her suit screeched against the metallic surface. Her body, still aching from their fight, struggled to get up to speed. She automatically went to activate her boosters, but then remembered that she was completely out of power. She began to spring up, but was smashed back into the ground as the Chief stomped on her back.

"Wait, I-" she choked out, but the breath was pushed out of her as he dropped onto her back. She heard the swish of displaced air, and knew what was going to happen before it did.

The Chief slammed the butt of his rifle into the back of her head, and this time, without her helmet, Samus had nothing to hold back the tide of inky blackness, her last thoughts showing horror at the alliance that had finally been formed between the Space Pirates and humanity.

Samus felt like she was underwater. She struggled to get to the surface, to air, but it felt like a great weight was on her chest, keeping her submerged. She struggled, and felt herself begin to rise. Faster, and faster, she was ascending, and then-

Samus stayed completely still as she regained consciousness, her many years of training with both the Chozo aliens and the Galactic Federation kicking in. She was moving-or rather, she was being carried somewhere. Taking priority, she checked herself over. The back of her neck felt like it had been snapped, and then fused together the wrong way. The rest of her body seemed to be okay, just sore from when John-the Master Chief-had thrown her to the ground. She extended her consciousness to her suit, and felt a flicker of trepidation as she realized it was still without power. It would only recharge if she could get back to her ship, or if she could somehow use her arm cannon to connect it to a power source. Her helmet was still missing. She twitched her arms slightly, and felt resistance. Same with her legs. Confused, Samus began to focus on her surroundings. Part of her training years with the Chozo had seen her meditate extensively, the Chozo themselves being extremely spiritual beings, and Samus could use the techniques they taught her to gain a picture of her surroundings without the need of sight.

She was lying horizontal, face up on some sort of restrictive metal stretcher. She could hear the soft footfalls of marching-approximately three soldiers were surrounding her, all stepping in unison. Their steps crunched on the snowy ground as they made their way out of the compound, and Samus began to concentrate on their muffled conversation. Their voices were dampened-they must have been wearing helmets, despite the breathable atmosphere. Samus began to pick out the individual conversations, focusing on a female voice that seemed to be coming from her right shoulder area.

"_Shit._ The amount of plasma that must have been needed to burn these Covenant….that's some serious alien tech! Not even a Wraith tank could make sweeps like these…"

A gruff male voice sounded from her left, derision in his voice.

"Hmph. Cleary this woman had plenty of tech, but not enough skill to use it. If she did, then the Chief wouldn't have gotten out of that Forerunner hole with only a busted helmet."

A surge of irritation flickered through Samus at his callous remark, and she had half a mind to open her mouth to tell him that she would show him _personally _how well she could use her weaponry. But a chill ran though her as the soldier ended with, "Right Chief?" and a third voice responded, uncomfortable in the open air.

"It wasn't easy Jacobson. She could use her armaments just fine, trust me."

His voice was clearer than the others-he too, must have been helmetless. Samus involuntarily tightened her muscles, and her suit shifted slightly.

"Stop." The Chief barked. Samus smoothly relaxed, pretending to be unconscious again, mentally questioning how the Chief had seen her minuscule movement as the procession quickly halted. She heard the Chief step quickly around to her head, and Samus rolled her eyes back just in time for him to pull her eyelid down. For a moment all was still, and Samus prayed that he would believe her façade. The female sounded again.

"There's no way she'd have surfaced yet, Master Chief. That hit you gave her will keep her out for at least a few hours."

Her eyelid was released, and relief flowed though Samus as the Chief responded.

"She's still out. Continue."

'That's what you think.' Thought Samus as the march started again. She began mentally running though courses of action in her head.

'Okay, okay…I have a few options here…I could probably bust out of these restraints-sounds like they're meant for normal human POWs. I could probably KO a few of them, but not the Chief, especially without any power to my suit. Hm…I could just wait and see where they take me, but who _knows _where that will be…and they might actually knock me out properly once we are on their ship…I need to somehow get my suit back online before we leave this planet. So…"

As Samus continued her inner monologue, she subconsciously kept track of the conversation around her.

"Suit is a ridiculous colour…"

« Freakishly tall for someone who's not a Spartan… »

"Get her onto the Pelican…"

'What the hell kind of name is a pelican?' muttered Samus inwardly. But she wasn't too irritated…she had a plan. It was dangerous, and the odds were definitely _not _in her favour. The Chief seemed to be uncannily lucky, and a good chunk of her plan depended on luck. But she didn't have any other choice, because she sure as hell wasn't going to be taken _anywhere _by these rouge humans.

Samus focused intently on her suit. It was never _truly _without power. A small spark of energy was always withheld from even the life support system to keep the suit held together, and Samus was about to abuse the hell out of this perk. Invisible to her captors, Samus twitched her fingers of her right hand, hidden inside her arm cannon-activating her suits armor detachment function. Setting it to detach-_forcefully_-in thirty seconds, Samus began to draw in deeper, but still inconspicuous breaths. She felt her adrenaline rates rise, and ran though her plan in her mind again and again. Twenty seconds in, she sent up a prayer to the Chozo, and to Adam. Five seconds. Four. Three, two…

Without warning, the power suit exploded.

Pieces of hard metal armor rocketed off in all directions, and the surrounding guard all gave cries of alarm as pieces of the power suit shot into them with the force of bullets. Samus snapped open her eyes and slid out of the now too large manacles in one smooth movement, her electric-blue Zero Suit covering her entirely from neck to toe. All the soldiers had been knocked to the ground, except the Master Chief, who had thrown himself backwards and landed a few feet away. He stood up and, in a flash, drew is pistol and fired at Samus' head. But she was gone. In a blur of motion, Samus leaped sideways, and drew the Paralyzer from its sheath on her leg-her last ditch defense. As the fallen soldiers began to rise, the Chief fired again, but once again, Samus merely sidestepped the bullets, a slight smirk on her face. Before, those shots would have hit her. Sure the Chief was quicker than her when she was fully equipped. But without anything slowing her down...she was one of the fastest living human beings in the universe. And that was no boast.

Charging her Paralyzer, Samus sprung towards the nearest rising soldier. Grabbing the huge man by the by the back of his neck, she swung him around, putting him between her and the Chief, and at the same time, released her shot into his back. The soldier shook violently as crackles of electricity crackled over his body, and he slumped, unconscious. She heard the Chief ready his weapon, waiting for her to expose the slightest amount of her body, and Samus had no doubt her could hit her pinky finger if she stuck it out. But she didn't. Instead, she ripped off the soldiers' helmet-noting the letters USDT on it-and with uncanny ease, hurled the body at the Master Chief, who automatically caught the body to prevent the man's face from hitting the corrosive ground.

Samus used the fleeting seconds to fire a second shot into the female soldier, who had just begun to finger her own gun in Samus' direction, and the woman dropped cold. She then quickly stooped down, and as the Master Chief set the man down so his head wasn't touching the ground, she quickly hefted the enormous metal stretcher by one of its underlying metal supports, holding it vertically in front of her like a giant shield. At the same time, she quickly sought out the so-called 'Forerunner' tower. It was located at two o'clock to her current position, and she could make out the platform the sniper had been standing on jutting out from the left side of the building. So her ship was somewhere in an eleven o'clock heading. She just hoped that her ships' cloaking shield had fooled the UNSC.

Her arms vibrated as several shots slammed into the stretcher, creating small semi-circular dints centimeters away from her torso. Once again, the Master Chief's accuracy surprised her. Hefting the shield with her left arm, she readied the Paralyzer again. Its' shots moved far too slow to hit the Chief from a distance, but if she could somehow get close…

No that that was likely to happen. Master Chief knew what her Paralyzer could do now, so she doubted he was going to let her get anywhere near him. However…Samus knelt down next to the fallen woman, turning the stretcher so it was horizontal. She heard the Master Chief begin to step towards her, and Samus quickly jammed the Paralyzer back in its sheath, instead drawing the pistol from the woman's hip holster.

Suddenly, the Master Chief rounded the side of the stretcher, his own pistol aimed at her head. However, Samus had anticipated this, and she swung the stretcher around like a bat, using all her superhuman strength to slam it into his side. She was surprised it actually hit-he had been faster before. Perhaps the loss of his own helmet was affecting him…

As the Chief landed a few meters away, Samus took advantage of his helmetless state and fired the pistol at his pale head. He quickly raised his arms, and the bullets pinged off him as his shields glowed to life.

'Damn, I forgot about that!' cursed Samus inwardly.

Master Chief, sensing his disadvantage with such a noticeable weak spot, charged towards Samus, drawing a lethal looking knife as he quickly closed the distance. Samus, hastily adapting to the changed combat, dropped the pistol and stomped on it, and drew her Paralyzer again just as the Master Chief reached her.

He stabbed downwards at her, aiming to strike her shoulder, and Samus quickly swung the Paralyzer, knocking the blade away. He smoothly followed up with a jab to her ribcage, forcing Samus to block it with her forearm. Several Chozo curses exploded through Samus' mind as his heavily armored fist met her forearm, and she knew if she hadn't had alien DNA in her, the blow would have snapped her arm. As it was, she would definitely have a horrible bruise later. If the Master Chief was surprised by her resilience, he didn't show it. His face was a mask of cool determination as he continued to attack Samus, his blade whistling through the air time and time again. It had been a while since Samus had needed to fight close combat without her power suit, and it took her a minute or so to really get back into it-but once she did, she was able to move on with the next stage of her plan-disable the Chief's long range firearms.

As the Master Chief sent a hammer fist towards her collarbone, Samus, instead of blocking as she had been, ducked under his arm and slithered around so she was behind him. In a single blurred motion, she ripped off the Chief's rifle, and as he began to turn around to her just as quick, she cracked the rifle against his back armor-the part she hoped was the hardest. His shields flared to life, and with a grainy crunch, the rifle bent and cracked, bending into an almost perfect right angle. Not missing a beat, the Chief scooped his leg backwards in a hook kick, and Samus dropped to the ground as his shielded boot whistled past her head. Taking advantage of his momentary unbalance, Samus fired an uncharged Paralyzer shot into his grounded foot. A yellow electric current ran up the Chief's body, and she saw him bare his teeth, as he was fleetingly frozen. In this short space of time, Samus quickly took his pistol and jumped backwards. Now, it was time to run.

With a gun in each hand, Samus sprinted in the direction of her ship, hoping to get to the ice hills before the Master Chief retrieved one of his companions weapons. Something in Samus' mind twitched, and she automatically leaped forward and rolled as the Master Chief's knife sailed above her, perfectly in line where her head had been. She glanced behind her, and to her surprise, he hadn't returned to his cohorts-he was chasing her. Jumping up, she began to sprint, pushing herself as she never had before. She could hear him behind her, but she wasn't _too _worried. Suits on, he could outrun her. But without her power suit, Samus was in full possession of the speed and athleticism she had gained from her Chozo training-no one could catch her. Suddenly, she heard a click behind her, and the Chief's steps faltered. Oh no.

Samus put on a burst of speed as she abruptly changed direction, now running left as the plasma grenade soared towards her previous running path. It hit the ground, and a shockwave of energy blasted out, throwing Samus from her feet. While she had escaped the actual blast, the force of it had flung her off her feet, and she landed clumsily in the snow, barely stopping her bare face from hitting the ground. Rolling her shoulders, Samus heaved herself up and turned her head back to look at the Chief. He seemed to be out of grenades-thank god- and was already closing the distance between her, his feet pounding on the corroded earth from the grenade. Samus fired off a few shots at his head and chest from the pistol, and he raised his arms in front of his face, the bullets ricocheting off his shield. Samus whirled and ran again, speeding behind the first of the ice mounds and getting closer to her gunship. She began to charge her Paralyzer in her left hand, and released the charged shot behind her, hoping the Chief would run into the slow moving shot as he rounded the corner. But to her surprise, she heard a faint female voice yell"Roll John!", and he rolled around the corner, the shot passing harmlessly over his head. Not wasting time worrying over the voice, Samus snapped off a few more head shots and continued to sprint, leaping over the next ice knoll and reaching the clearway, of which her ship was at the other end of. Suppressed hope began to bubble in her chest as she sighted her orange Hunter-class gunship, and the Chief's footfalls slowly got further away. Whilst her ship was perfectly visible to her, being connected to her suit and so her own very essence, it would have been-hopefully-invisible to the Chief's eyes. But not once she got in it.

As she stepped onto the lower access hatch, she turned to see the Master Chief was still sprinting towards her, but looked faintly confused as her apparent stop in the middle of nowhere. Then, as she was raised into her gunship, the cloaking shield lowered. She wished she could see his face, but she quickly seated herself in the cockpit, inserting her right arm into the arm cannon and placing her left hand onto the orbital control sphere.

"Gunship-primary action one: immediate takeoff to nearest Galactic Federation headquarters. Action two: retrieval and restoration of power suit-Varia mode."

Without her suit, Samus had to give her ship verbal commands for instant action, and it felt strange to hear herself speaking aloud in her ship. It rumbled as the rear and lower thrusters flared to life, and as her ship began to rise, Samus, peered out the windscreen to see what the Chief was doing.

She jerked backwards as, with a thump, the Master Chief landed on her cockpit window, his knife in his left hand. Quickly suppressing her surprise, she glared angrily at the Chief as he pulled back his right hand and, using all his power, smashed his fist into her windscreen. Her entire ship shuddered and groaned, but not so much as a hairline crack appeared. No doubt that would have broken a normal gunships' exterior, but her ship had just as much shielding as she did-and it was fully charged. Her ship's cool female voice sounded.

"_Power suit-Varia mode-retrieved. Activating Varia suit."_

Ease flowed through as her suit shimmered back onto her body, and even her helmet reappeared, blessedly whole again. The gunship quickly recharged her shields, and just like that, Samus was back to full power. For once, the Master Chief's face was not emotionless. Pure shock flashed over it as he saw her suit _somehow_ reappear back inside the ship, perfectly repaired, before he composed himself. Gritting his teeth, he raised the knife, and Samus narrowed her eyes.

"Not my ship you don't!" She snarled. Quickly sending it a command though her connected arm cannon, her ship's shields flared, and with an electric crackle, the Master Chief was blasted from her ship's surface onto the snowy ground. He quickly stood up and tensed, readying himself to jump again, and Samus felt a grudging admiration for his persistence. But not this time. Her ship shot upwards like a rocket, the earth below quickly falling away until the Master Chief was just a grey-green blip on the landscape. With a final look at her adversary, Samus commanded her ship to go into warp drive to the nearest Federation headquarters. She had a lot to tell them.


End file.
